He said he was told parts of the district got down to ten degrees below zero overnight.

"I woke up around 6 a.m. to get ready to be [at Legend HS] on time and my dad was like, 'No school today.' I was a little bit stunned because I looked outside and it wasn't snowing or anything," Legend HS Freshman Monroe Porter said.

He still had to come to school briefly, however, for a short practice. Junior varsity basketball has a game tomorrow, he said.

Nick Wylmer is an 8th grade student at Sierra Middle School. "We went to class, and then they announced that we were getting out early," he said. Not that he was disappointed. "I'm happy," he said with a laugh.

Moffitt did call the cold-weather problems virtually unprecedented.

"I've been with the district for 28 years, and we've had a school [closed] here or there, but we've not had these conditions since I've been here," he said.